FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Park Township, Michigan – A group of approximately 70 homeowners have filed a federal lawsuit against Park Township. A copy of the lawsuit can be viewed online.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the township’s zoning ordinance in effect from 2003-2024 violated the Michigan and U.S. Constitution’s due process and unconstitutional vagueness clauses, and to prevent the township from denying the homeowners their property rights. It also asks the court to award monetary damages and attorneys’ fees to the fullest extent of the law.
The lawsuit does not seek to overturn the township’s March 2024 and onward ban on short-term rentals. All parties agree that the township’s new March 2024 zoning amendment prohibiting short-term rentals in residential zoning districts is lawful. The ban is not at issue.
The township’s attempt to make their new 2024 zoning ordinance retroactive is the issue. When a Michigan zoning ordinance is changed, pre-existing uses are supposed to be allowed to continue. The township’s abrupt change in policy around 2022, and their attempt to reinterpret the older 2003-2024 ordinance as a ban, contradicts decades of written and verbal communications from the township to property owners, and the township failed to provide fair notice that short term rentals were prohibited.
Estimates are that approximately 100 short-term rentals remain in the township, making up an extremely small number of the total homes. According to 2023 census data, there were 8,270 housing units in Park Township. Nearly one thousand of those housing units were vacant, likely because Park Township is a popular location for second homes.
Short-term rentals in the township are typically used by the owners and their families themselves, and are rented out as well rather than remaining empty for the majority of the time.
According to data obtained through FOIA, Park Township Neighbors estimates that the township has spent over $338,000 fighting to prevent this small group of homeowners from exercising their right to continue renting short-term.
Township representatives had previously spent decades repeatedly and consistently telling anyone who inquired that there were no regulations or restrictions on rentals, and that no permit was required.
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Media contact:
Jeremy Allen, neighbors@parktownshipneighbors.com
About PTN:
Park Township Neighbors (PTN) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit social welfare organization established by families, individuals, business owners, and community leaders working together to improve everyone’s experiences in Park Township. For more information, visit ParkTownshipNeighbors.com.